CommunityActive· 22d★ 4.3by chaindead

Telegram MCP

Connects to the Telegram user API for dialogs, messages, channels, and read status across chats and groups.

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Safety & Trust

Delv Safety Grade: C

Score 58/100 · assessed 2026-04-28

Maintainer40

Permissions55

Supply chain65

Transparency70

Incidents100

Telegram MCP connects Claude to your full Telegram user account via the user API, not the bot API. This means it accesses everything: private chats, groups, channels, messages, and read status. The maintainer 'chaindead' appears to be a solo developer with limited public profile and no clear organisational backing. The server requires TG_APP_ID and TG_API_HASH credentials, which are sensitive Telegram API keys tied to your personal account. Distribution via Homebrew tap is reasonable but less vetted than npm or PyPI. The repository is open source with adequate documentation. The main concern is the broad scope: full user account access to a messaging platform with private conversations, combined with a solo maintainer of uncertain track record. No known security incidents, but the permission surface is inherently wide for this use case.

Lethal Trifecta (prompt-injection exposure)

TRIFECTA RISK

All three axes present. This server can read private data, ingest attacker-controlled content, and send data outbound. A poisoned input (a GitHub issue, an email, a webpage) can exfiltrate secrets via this chain. Only install with auditing; avoid on shared or cloud agents.

Private dataYes

Reads secrets, credentials, private files

Untrusted inputYes

Ingests web pages, PRs, issues, emails

External commsYes

Can send data outbound

Bots and channels mean a much wider attacker surface than imessage. Treat any forwarded message as hostile.

Green flags

Open source repository with visible code for review
Distributed via Homebrew tap with standard install method
Clear documentation of required environment variables
No known security incidents or credential leaks

Red flags

Solo maintainer with limited public track record or organisational backing
Full user account access to Telegram, not scoped bot API
Requires sensitive API credentials (TG_APP_ID, TG_API_HASH) with broad scope
Access to all private chats, groups, and channels without granular scoping

Permissions requested

Read messagesSend messagesOutbound networkAccess secretsIdentity read

Assessed by Delv Editorial using public metadata. Grades are advisory and update as the ecosystem changes. They do not replace your own review of permissions and code before granting an agent access to sensitive systems.

Install

brew install chaindead/tap/telegram-mcp

Env vars needed: TG_APP_IDTG_API_HASH

Review

Telegram MCP plugs Claude directly into the Telegram user API, so you can read messages, check dialogs, monitor channels, and update read status without opening the app. It's not a bot interface. This is your full user account, which means you get everything: private chats, groups, channels, the lot. I'd reach for this when I need to triage a flood of Telegram messages or summarise what happened in a group while I was offline. The channel monitoring use case is particularly strong. If you follow dozens of news or crypto channels, you can ask Claude to pull the last 50 messages from a specific channel and give you the highlights. Message drafting works too, though I find myself using it more for reading than writing. Setup requires a Telegram app ID and API hash, which you get from my.telegram.org. The docs assume you know what those are. Once you've got them, the install is a single Homebrew command. You'll need to authenticate the first time, which happens in the terminal. After that, it's persistent. The quirks: this is a user API, not a bot API, so rate limits apply. Telegram will throttle you if you hammer it. The server doesn't abstract this away, so you need to be aware of it. Also, because it's your full account, Claude has access to everything you can see. If that makes you uncomfortable, don't install it. There's no sandboxing here. The repo is lean and the code is readable. It does what it says and doesn't try to do more. I haven't hit any crashes, but I also haven't pushed it hard. For developers who live in Telegram and want to automate the boring bits, this is a solid tool. If you only check Telegram once a day, you don't need it.

Verdict

Install this if you're drowning in Telegram messages and want Claude to help you triage. Skip it if you're not a heavy Telegram user or if you're uncomfortable giving Claude full account access. It does one thing well and doesn't pretend otherwise.

Good at

Full user API access means you can read private chats, groups, and channels without restrictions.
Channel monitoring is genuinely useful if you follow dozens of feeds and need summaries.
Single Homebrew install, no manual binary wrangling.
Authentication persists, so you don't need to log in every time.
Lean codebase, does what it claims without feature creep.

Watch out

User API rate limits apply, and the server doesn't abstract them away.
Claude gets full account access, which is a privacy trade-off some won't accept.
No sandboxing or scoped permissions, it's all or nothing.
Docs assume you know how to get Telegram API credentials, no hand-holding.
Hosts beyond Claude Desktop require manual config, no pre-built snippets provided.

Use cases

chat summarisation
channel monitoring
message drafting
group notifications

Getting started

1. Get your Telegram app ID and API hash from my.telegram.org/apps. You'll need to log in with your phone number. 2. Run `brew install chaindead/tap/telegram-mcp` to install the server. 3. Add the server to your Claude Desktop config with `TG_APP_ID` and `TG_API_HASH` environment variables. Restart Claude Desktop. 4. The first time you use it, you'll authenticate in the terminal. Follow the prompts and enter the code Telegram sends you. 5. Test it by asking Claude to list your recent dialogs or fetch messages from a specific chat. Watch for rate limit warnings if you query too fast.

Works with

Claude DesktopClaude CodeCursor